Utility Week – Fresh doubts on new nuclear: reports

The ongoing uncertainty over EDF’s Hinkley Point has cast doubt over the UK’s second planned new nuclear plant, Horizon’s Wylfa Newydd project, according to a report in the Sunday Telegraph.

Utility Week – Fresh doubts on new nuclear: reports

Marius Paul’s breathlines painting “Mother and Child” | The Committee For Future Generations | breathlines

A MESSAGE FROM OUR FRIENDS IN LA PLONGE, SASKATCHEWAN

In the spring of 2011, the Dene, Cree, Metis and settler people of northern Saskatchewan discovered that 3 of their communities were being targeted by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to become “the host” to store all of Canada’s high-level nuclear waste with an open-ended possibility of storing spent nuclear fuel from the USA as well.

Northern Saskatchewan and the traditional lands of the Dene, Metis and settler communities have long been poisoned by the uranium industry. But in the last few years, this despoliation has intensified, with proposed long term storage of depleted uranium. We formed the Committee For Future Generations to resist these plans.

You can support us and stand with us in a number of ways. We are offering for sale prints of Marius Paul’s breathlines painting “Mother and Child” pictured above. You can listen to a recent interview Candyce Paul gave. And you can read more of this message (which includes how to purchase prints).

breathlines


Prints measure 18″ X 23″ and are individually signed and numbered by Marius. They cost $200 and we will ship to your address for an additional $15.

A Message from La Plonge, SK and The Committee For Future Generations | breathlines

Committee for Future Generations | No Nuclear Waste in Northern Saskatchewan

15,000 Abandoned Uranium Mines Protested At EPA | PopularResistance.Org

via PopularResistance.Org –

‘We are the Miner’s Canary’: Indigenous Organizations Call for Clean Up of ‘Homegrown’ Radioactive Pollution Crisis.

NOTE: The final event will be a panel discussion at Georgetown University, Friday, January 29 from 6 to 8 pm at the White Gravenor Building, Room 211. This event is free and open to the public. Georgetown University is located at 37th and O Sts NW Washington, DC.

Washington, DC — On Thursday, January 28 at 12:30 PM, representatives of Indigenous organizations from the Southwest, Northern Great Plains, and supporters called for “no nukes” in a protest addressing radioactive pollution caused by 15,000 abandoned uranium mines (AUMs) posing a toxic threat in the US. The demonstration was held at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters to call for immediate clean up of these hazardous sites, protection of Indigenous sacred areas from uranium mining, and for intervention in communities where drinking water is poisoned with radioactive contamination. The groups charged that the EPA has been negligent in addressing these toxic threats that severely threaten public health, lands, and waterways.

Charmaine White Face speaks in front of the EPA.

“Native American nations of North America are the miners’ canaries for the United States trying to awaken the people of the world to the dangers of radioactive pollution”, said Charmaine White Face from the South Dakota based organization Defenders of the Black Hills.

South Dakota has 272 AUMs which are contaminating waterways such as the Cheyenne River and desecrating sacred and ceremonial sites. An estimated 169 AUMs are located within 50 miles of Mt. Rushmore where millions of tourists risk exposure to radioactive pollution each year.

Indigenous communities have been disproportionately impacted as approximately 75% of AUMs are located on federal and Tribal lands. A majority of AUMs are located in 15 western states with the potential to impact more than 50 million people.

Harold One Feather speaks at the US Forestry Service.

Out of 272 AUMs in South Dakota only one, the Riley Pass Mine located on US Forest Service held lands, has been cleaned up but the process has been called inadequate and concerns were raised about the reclamation budget. “My concern is how with the balance remaining from a $179 million mine reclamation settlement, the USFS says that local affected communities will be able to use the remainder on community projects and training to replace uses of the Grand River, which flows into Missouri River. The river is destroyed through this act of radioactive genocide.” stated Harold One Feather, a member of Defenders of the Black Hills, “After discussing the $179M Tronox settlement for the Riley Pass Uranium Mine Reclamation, the US Forest Service said the affected communities can submit budgets to use up any remaining balance after mine reclamation.”

Outside of the EPA headquarters the groups chanted, “Radioactive Pollution Kills!”, “No More Churchrock Spill, No More Fukushima!”, and “Clean Nuclear is a deadly lie!” in response to the EPA’s Clean Power Plan which they state promotes nuclear energy.

A massive banner stating “Radioactive Pollution Kills” with the image of a Miner’s Canary and radioactive warning symbol was dropped inside the EPA headquarters.

From January 25-28, Clean Up The Mines, Defenders of the Black Hills, Diné No Nukes, Laguna and Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment & Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, and Indigenous World Alliance, met members of congress, Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, DC.

The Clean Up The Mines! campaign is focused on passing the Uranium Exploration and Mining Accountability Act that would ensure clean up of all AUMs. The act was submitted as a draft to Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D–AZ) two years ago but has yet to be introduced to Congress.

Petuuche Gilbert speaks at the US Forestry Service.

Currently, no comprehensive law, regardless of mining era, requires clean-up of all these dangerous abandoned uranium mines allowing corporations and the federal government to walk away without taking responsibility for the continuing harms they have caused.

“This is an invisible national crisis. Millions of people in the United States are being exposed as Nuclear Radiation Victims on a daily basis.” said Mrs. White Face, “Exposure to radioactive pollution has been linked to cancer, genetic defects, Navajo Neuropathy, and increases in mortality. We are protesting the EPA today because we believe that as more Americans become aware of this homegrown radioactive pollution, then something can be done to protect all peoples and the environment. In the meetings we had in DC, not only were AUMs discussed, but we also talked about radioactive pollution from coal dust, coal smoke, and in water.
These show a need for amendments to the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.” said Mrs. White Face.

Petuuche Gilbert outside the EPA.

The groups addressed extreme water contamination, surface strip coal mining and power plants burning coal-laced with radioactive particles, radioactive waste from oil well drilling in the Bakken Oil Range, mill tailings, waste storage, and renewed mining threats to sacred places such as Mt. Taylor in New Mexico.

“The U.S. is violating its own Executive Orders and laws intended to protect areas sacred to Native American people on public lands by applying the General Mining Act of 1872.” Petuuche Gilbert of the Laguna Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment & President of the Indigenous World Association, “The U.S is discriminating against Indigenous peoples when it permits mining on these lands. Specifically, the U.S. is violating: Executive Order 13007, Executive 13175, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as well as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Leona Morgan of .

“With adherence to out-dated, racist policies promoting colonialism, such as the 1872 mining law,Indigenous peoples across the country will continue to be oppressed, and we will continue to demand that our land be returned and restored to its original condition, to that of before the colonization by the United States,” stated Leona Morgan of Diné No Nukes. “The United Nuclear Corporation mill tailings spill of 1979, north of Churchrock, New Mexico left an immense amount of radioactive contamination that down-streamers, today, are currently receiving in their drinking water. A mostly-Navajo community in Sanders, Arizona has been exposed to twice the legal limit allowable for uranium through their tap–this is criminal!” said Morgan.Diné No Nukes is a collective focused on educating the general Navajo population about the issues created by US Atomic Energy Commission, as well as ongoing and new threats from the nuclear industry.

Tommy Rock of Diné No Nukes

Tommy Rock, a member of Diné No Nukes and graduate student from the state of Arizona stated that the water crisis in Flint, Michigan was extremely similar to a crisis near the Navajo Nation in Sanders, AZ. “The regulatory agencies are responding by sending the Army National Guard to provide bottle water for the community of Flint. However, the small community of Sanders which is also predominantly an Indigenous community that is off the reservation are not receiving the same response from the state regulatory agency or the state legislatures and the media,” stated Rock who worked on a recent study that uncovered levels of uranium in the drinking water system of residents and an elementary school in Sanders that violated the drinking water standard for uranium. Rock continues, “The same can be said about two Lakota reservations. They are Pine Ridge and Rock Creek, Standing Rock Reservation that have not received any assistance from regulatory agencies. This exemplifies the inconsistency among the US EPA regions about responding to Indigenous communities compared to non-Indigenous populations which are facing the same issue regarding access to safe drinking water.”

Mr. Rock called for the community of Sanders to be included in the second Navajo Nation 5-Year Clean-Up Plan and an amendment to the Clean Water Act. “Another issue around water is the mining industry is contaminating the rivers. They are disregarding the Clean Water Act because the act does not address radionuclides. This needs to be amended so the policy can enforce that companies be accountable for their degradation to the watershed areas. This can also be beneficial to US EPA because they do not have the funds to clean every contaminated river by the mining industry and other commercial industry,” stated Mr. Rock.

“These uranium mines cause radioactive contamination, and as a result all the residents in their vicinity are becoming nuclear radiation victims,” states Petuuche Gilbert, a member of the Acoma Nation, LACSE, MASE, and IWA. “New Mexico and the federal government have provided little funding for widespread clean up and only occasionally are old mines remediated. The governments of New Mexico and the United States have a duty to clean up these radioactive mines and mills and, furthermore, to perform health studies to determine the effects of radioactive poisoning. The MASE and LACSE organizations oppose new uranium mining and demand legacy uranium mines to be cleaned up,” said Mr. Gilbert.

Protest at the EPA.

“In 2015 the Gold King Mine spill was a wake-up call to address dangers of abandoned mines, but there are currently more than 15,000 toxic uranium mines that remain abandoned throughout the US”, said Ms. White Face. “For more than 50 years, many of these hazardous sites have been contaminating the land, air, water, and national monuments such as Mt. Rushmore and the Grand Canyon. Each one of these thousands of abandoned uranium mines is a potential Gold King mine disaster with the greater added threat of radioactive pollution. For the sake of our health, air, land, & water, we can’t let that happen.”

The delegation was supported by Piscataway Nation and DC area organizations such as Nipponzan Myohoji Temple, Popular Resistance, Movement Media, La Casa, NIRS, & the Peace House.

15,000 Abandoned Uranium Mines Protested At EPA | PopularResistance.Org

RESCHEDULED: Was 1.26; NOW to be on 1.28: No Nukes Protest at EPA - Indigenous Delegation Resisting Radioactive Pollution

1.26 protest RESCHEDULED FOR January 28

Indigenous representatives from the Northern Great Plains & Southwest are traveling to DC for meetings and presentations to address radioactive impacts in their communities.

Radioactive pollution is an invisible national crisis with millions of people in the United States being exposed as Nuclear Radiation Victims on a daily basis. Exposure to radioactive pollution has been linked to cancer, genetic defects, and increases in mortality.

From the toxic legacy of more than 15,000 abandoned uranium mines (AUMs), extreme water contamination, surface strip coal mining and power plants burning coal-laced with uranium, radioactive waste from oil well drilling in the Bakken Oil Range, weapons testing, waste storage, extreme water contamination and renewed mining threats to sacred places, Native American nations of North America are the miners’ canaries for the United States trying to awaken the people of the world to the dangers of radioactive pollution.

All of our communities also face increased peril of radioactive pollution under the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). The CPP states that “Nuclear power is part of an ‘all the above’ energy strategy that… protects the planet for future generations.” The EPA expects “nuclear power to be a key partner in achieving the goals of the CPP.” (1)

Please click here to support our crowdfunding campaign: www.cleanupthemines.org/

This event is free, donations welcome

(Facebook) No Nukes Protest at EPA - Indigenous Delegation Resisting Radioactive Pollution

Press Release: Indigenous Delegation Sounds Alarm on Homegrown Radioactive Pollution Crisis – Clean Up The Mines!

Press Release: Indigenous Delegation Sounds Alarm on Homegrown Radioactive Pollution Crisis | cleanupthemines.org

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Contact: Klee Benally
Clean Up The Mines, organizer
cleanupthemines@gmail.com
www.cleanupthemines.org

“We are the Miner’s Canary”
Indigenous Delegation Sounds Alarm on Homegrown Radioactive Pollution Crisis 
Events & Protest Planned in Washington, DC

Photo: A Geiger counter reading shows dangerously high levels of radioactive pollution at an elementary school playground near an abandoned uranium mine in Ludlow, South Dakota. 
Credit: Clean Up The Mines.

Washington, DC — From January 25-28, 2016 Indigenous representatives from the Northern Great Plains & Southwest will be in the District of Columbia (DC) to raise awareness about radioactive pollution, an invisible national crisis. Millions of people in the United States are being exposed as Nuclear Radiation Victims on a daily basis. Exposure to radioactive pollution has been linked to cancer, genetic defects, Navajo Neuropathy, and increases in mortality. The delegation will speak about the impacts they are experiencing in their communities, which are also affecting other communities throughout the US.

“Native American nations of North America are the miners’ canaries for the United States trying to awaken the people of the world to the dangers of radioactive pollution”, states Charmaine White Face from the South Dakota based organization Defenders of the Black Hills.

South Dakota has 272 Abandoned Uranium Mines (AUMs) which are contaminating waterways such as the Cheyenne River, and desecrating sacred and ceremonial sites. An estimated 169 AUMs are located within 50 miles of Mt. Rushmore where millions of tourists risk exposure to radioactive pollution each year.

The delegation is warning of the toxic legacy caused by more than 15,000 AUMs nationwide, extreme water contamination, surface strip coal mining and power plants burning coal-laced with radioactive particles, radioactive waste from oil well drilling in the Bakken Oil Range, mill tailings, waste storage, and renewed mining threats to sacred places such as Mt. Taylor in New Mexico and Red Butte in Arizona.

Indigenous communities have been disproportionately impacted as approximately 75% of AUMs are located on federal and Tribal lands.

“In 2015 the Gold King Mine spill was a wake-up call to address dangers of abandoned mines, but there are currently more than 15,000 toxic uranium mines that remain abandoned throughout the US”, said Ms. White Face. “For more than 50 years, many of these hazardous sites have been contaminating the land, air, water, and national monuments such as Mt. Rushmore and the Grand Canyon. Each one of these thousands of abandoned uranium mines is a potential Gold King mine disaster with the greater added threat of radioactive pollution. For the sake of our health, air, land, & water, we can’t let that happen.”

The Clean Up The Mines! campaign is focused on passing the Uranium Exploration and Mining Accountability Act that would ensure clean up of all AUMs. The act was submitted as a draft to Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D–AZ) two years ago but has yet to be introduced to Congress.
Currently, no comprehensive law, regardless of mining era, requires clean-up of all these dangerous abandoned uranium mines allowing corporations and the federal government to walk away without taking responsibility for the continuing harms they have caused.

“With adherence to out-dated, racist policies promoting colonialism, such as the 1872 mining law, Indigenous peoples across the country will continue to be oppressed, and we will continue to demand that our land be returned and restored to its original condition, to that of before the colonization by the United States,” stated Leona Morgan of Diné No Nukes. “The United Nuclear Corporation mill tailings spill of 1979, north of Churchrock, New Mexico left an immense amount of radioactive contamination that down-streamers, today, are currently receiving in their drinking water. A mostly-Navajo community in Sanders, Arizona has been exposed to twice the legal limit allowable for uranium through their tap–this is criminal!” said Morgan.

Diné No Nukes, which is participating in the delegation, is a collective focused on educating the general Navajo population about the issues created by US Atomic Energy Commission, as well as ongoing and new threats from the nuclear industry.    

The delegation will hold a protest in front of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Headquarters in opposition to the proposed Clean Power Plan’s irresponsible support for deadly nuclear energy on Tuesday, January 26 at 10am. < RESCHEDULED TO JAN. 28

The Laguna Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment (LACSE) and the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE), and Indigenous World Association (IWA), part of the delegation to Washington, DC, are asking Congress to take measures for cleaning up the estimated 489 abandoned uranium mines in New Mexico.

“These uranium mines cause radioactive contamination, and as a result all the residents in their vicinity are becoming nuclear radiation victims,” states Petuuche Gilbert, a member of the Acoma Nation, LACSE, MASE, and IWA. “New Mexico and the federal government have provided little funding for widespread clean up and only occasionally are old mines remediated.  The governments of New Mexico and the United States have a duty to clean up these radioactive mines and mills and, furthermore, to perform health studies to determine the effects of radioactive poisoning. The MASE and LACSE organizations oppose new uranium mining and demand legacy uranium mines to be cleaned up,” said Mr. Gilbert.

Regarding the purpose of the trip and the presentations to audiences of all ages, Ms. White Face stated, “We believe that as more Americans become aware of this ‘homegrown’ radioactive pollution, then something can be done to protect all peoples and the environment.”

Events:
All events are free, donations welcomed.

Monday – Jan. 25, 2016
Panel Discussion
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Georgetown University
White-Gravenor Hall Rm 211, 37th St NW & O St NW, Washington, DC 20057
Facebook Event Link

Tuesday – Jan. 26, 2016 < RESCHEDULED TO JAN. 28
Protest against Clean Power Plan
10:00 am
EPA Building
1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004
Facebook Event Link

Enviro & Social Justice Organization Meet & Greet
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
La Casa Building
3166 Mount Pleasant St. NW, Washington, DC 20010

Wednesday – Jan. 27, 2016
65th Anniversary of the first nuclear detonation at the Nevada Test Site, now the Nevada National Security Site

Dinner & Presentation for Physicians for Social Responsibility, DC Metro Chapter
6:00 pm –  8:00 pm
12717 Greenbriar Rd, Potomac, MD
(Please RSVP: mdpnhp@gmail.com)

Thursday – Jan. 28, 2016
Panel Discussion
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Nipponzan Myohoji Temple
4900 16th St. NW, Washington, DC 20011
More info: cleanupthemines@gmail.com

Indigenous Delegation:
Northern Great Plains
Charmaine White Face (Oceti Sakowin), Defenders of the Black Hills
Harold One Feather (Oceti Sakowin), Defenders of the Black Hills
JD Buckley (Oceti Sakowin), Defenders of the Black Hills

Southwest
Tommy Rock (Diné), Diné No Nukes
Leona Morgan (Diné), Diné No Nukes
Petuuche Gilbert (Acoma), Laguna and Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment & Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, Indigenous World Alliance
Klee Benally (Diné), Clean Up The Mines!, Indigenous Action Media

For more information: www.cleanupthemines.org/dc
Contact: cleanupthemines@gmail.com

###

New York throws $5 billion at clean energy, includes nukes in RPS proceeding: pv-magazine

New York throws $5 billion at clean energy, includes nukes in RPS proceeding: pv-magazine: Buried in an announcement of aggressive funding for clean energy, New York regulators have said that they will include nuclear power in the state’s new renewable energy mandate.

the 26th of April appeal :: 5th ann. FUKUSHIMA, 30th ann. CHERNOBYL

The year 2016 should be the year of awareness of the population. The 11th of March 2016 will be the day of commemoration, 5 years after the beginning of the Fukushima disaster, and the 26th of April, 30 years after the beginning of the Chernobyl disaster. Everywhere in the world, those dates will be celebrated in commemoration. It is not acceptable that the nuclear lobby should decide what to think, what to spread, what to say and what to write!

From today onwards, we : artists, journalists,teachers, photographers, musicians, actors, librarians, street artists, scientists, dancers, researchers, documentary film makers, circus artists, poets, cinema or theatre managers, festival organisers, politicians, activists and concerned citizens, will start working to enable the insurrection of consciences against the contaminated future. We will produce, come up with or welcome public readings, seminars, academic seminars, shows, conferences, exhibitions, screenings, dances, carnivals...! 

more: Brut de béton > Accueil

2.14 TOKYO: Abe Under Siege, SAY NO to the Abe Government! Bring back democracy! No war! | Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes

Abe Under Siege SAY NO To The Abe Government! Bring Back Democracy! No War!

安倍政権NO！☆0214大行進in渋谷ー民主主義を取り戻せ！戦争させるな！ー

Protest In Shibuya & Harajuku

Protest concerns: Nuclear power plants, security-related laws, constitutional amendments, US army base in Okinawa, State Secrecy Law, TPP, consumption tax hikes, social security, employment and labor deregulation, agriculture, hate speech, education

Abe Under Siege SAY NO to the Abe Government! Bring back democracy! No war! | Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes

★0311再稼働反対！首相官邸前抗議 | 首都圏反原発連合

NO NUKES! ENERGY AUTONOMY!

0311再稼働反対！首相官邸前抗議

福島原発事故から5年、金曜官邸前抗議開始から4年。
脱原発社会の実現への新たなる決意を込め、3月11日は首相官邸前抗議と国会正門前大集会へ！

* 0311 Protest before the Prime Minister's Office

5 years from the Fukushima nuclear accident, four years since the Friday's protest started at the official residence.

Put the "A New commitment" to the realization of denuclearization society, March 11, 2011 at Prime Minister's Office and the National Assembly main gate large rally!

＜日時＞
2016年3月11日（金）18:00〜20:00
＜場所＞
首相官邸前＆国会正門前（南庭側）
首相官邸前エリア：コール中心の抗議を行います。
国会前大集会：著名人や政治家をゲストスピーカーに迎えた集会です。
＜主催＞
首都圏反原発連合 －Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes－

＊アクセス
＜首相官邸前・国会正門前＞
最寄り駅：東京メトロ丸ノ内線・千代田線「国会議事堂前駅」、東京メトロ南北線・銀座線「溜池山王駅」、東京メトロ有楽町線・半蔵門線・南北線「永田町駅」、東京メトロ丸ノ内線・千代田線・日比谷線「霞ヶ関駅」、東京メトロ有楽町線「桜田門駅」

★0311再稼働反対！首相官邸前抗議 | 首都圏反原発連合

Global Day of Action, March 11, 2016 – "Fukushima: 5 Years of Fire" | Wake Up World

... Calling a Day of Global Action, March 11, 2016

If nuclear energy has taught us one thing, it is that a single spark can start a fire that has generational effects. It’s time we light a new fire, and create the kind of future we’d be proud for our grandchildren to inherit. So let’s gather in numbers and show them we’re serious.

Protests are done to inform people and instigate change, and must have a clear, single issue of importance. Hence,

“We demand that nuclear government and corporations of the world take legitimate and urgent action to end the ongoing disaster at Fukushima.”

Arguably the Fukushima event is the biggest environmental disaster (and subsequent cover up) in human history, by nuclear institutions with a record of lies and official cover-ups unlike any other. Little genuine effort has been made to contain the disaster, radiation monitoring mechanisms were disabled by authorities following the initial meltdown, laws were implemented to quell reporting of the disaster, and government-prescribed “safe” radiation limits were lifted, apparently to accommodate the new “normal” radiation levels. Meanwhile, oceanic and atmospheric radiation pollution levels are still rising — with untold environmental effects — and are currently expected to continue increasing at least until 2018...

complete: Fukushima: 5 Years of Fire – Global Day of Action, March 11, 2016 | Wake Up World

1.28 No Nukes Protest at EPA - Indigenous Delegation Resisting Radioactive Pollution

1.26 protest RESCHEDULED FOR January 28

Indigenous representatives from the Northern Great Plains & Southwest are traveling to DC for meetings and presentations to address radioactive impacts in their communities.

Radioactive pollution is an invisible national crisis with millions of people in the United States being exposed as Nuclear Radiation Victims on a daily basis. Exposure to radioactive pollution has been linked to cancer, genetic defects, and increases in mortality.

From the toxic legacy of more than 15,000 abandoned uranium mines (AUMs), extreme water contamination, surface strip coal mining and power plants burning coal-laced with uranium, radioactive waste from oil well drilling in the Bakken Oil Range, weapons testing, waste storage, extreme water contamination and renewed mining threats to sacred places, Native American nations of North America are the miners’ canaries for the United States trying to awaken the people of the world to the dangers of radioactive pollution.

All of our communities also face increased peril of radioactive pollution under the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). The CPP states that “Nuclear power is part of an ‘all the above’ energy strategy that… protects the planet for future generations.” The EPA expects “nuclear power to be a key partner in achieving the goals of the CPP.” (1)

Please click here to support our crowdfunding campaign: www.cleanupthemines.org/

This event is free, donations welcome

(Facebook) No Nukes Protest at EPA - Indigenous Delegation Resisting Radioactive Pollution

Press Release: Indigenous Delegation Sounds Alarm on Homegrown Radioactive Pollution Crisis – Clean Up The Mines!

Five years after Fukushima, Green Cross assesses legacy of disaster - Green Cross International

Green Cross is organizing a dialogue with international experts in Zurich on 30 January to shed light on the consequences of nuclear disasters in Japan and the former Soviet Union. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima catastrophe, and the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl meltdown. Both of those incidents continue to affect the people and environment of surrounding regions to this day.

Green Cross has been working on the ground at Fukushima ever since the disaster hit, and has over 20 years’ experience helping victims of Chernobyl in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The Zurich conference brings together experts and practitioners from Japan, Russia and Switzerland to share their experiences and participate in a frank exchange about the state of atomic energy in the world today.

The event will run from 13h30 to 15h30 in the EPF’s Maximum auditorium (Ramistrasse 101, 8092 Zurich). It will feature former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Swiss Professor Dr. Horst-Michael Prasser, Green Cross’ own Dr. Stephen Robinson, Prof. Jonathan Samet from the University of Southern California, and Professor Dr. Vladimir Kusnetsov from the Moscow Electrotechnical Institute.

The panelists will each make a presentation, after which they will respond to audience questions. Simultaneous translation will be provided in English, German, Japanese and Russian.

Five years after Fukushima, Green Cross assesses legacy of disaster - Green Cross International

2016 could be a transformative year | GreenWorld

If 2015 was the year that the ongoing global energy transition away from nuclear power and fossil fuels and toward a clean energy system based on renewables gained public notice, then 2016 naturally should be the year that the transition takes visible and meaningful steps forward.

Two critical steps that occurred in December ensure that the coming year is indeed likely to be that kind of pivotal, transformative period.

The first was, of course, the international COP 21 climate agreement, which–despite its flaws–will cause a global acceleration of the transition. The second factor, here in the U.S., was the five-year extension (and eventual phase-out) of tax credits for solar and wind power deployment. Both will combine to enable 2016, and the years immediately following, to attain milestone after milestone in the development of a nuclear-free, carbon-free energy system.

A third factor, by the way, also limited to the U.S. but related to the ability to achieve the COP 21 agreement, is President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

But you don’t need to take my word for it; there are plenty of energy experts predicting the same–and also throwing out new ideas for how to make the transition even faster...

more: 2016 could be a transformative year | GreenWorld

Dr Caldicott to speak in South Australia, on Nuclear Waste

The Prospect Local Environment Group (PLEG) will be hosting a public meeting on a proposed nuclear waste dump in South Australia, with Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Helen Caldicott. Other speakers to be announced.  Prospect Town Hall  128 Prospect Road, Prospect, South Australia 5082

Dr Caldicott to speak in South Australia, on Nuclear Waste | Antinuclear

Nuclear Energy Dangerous to Your Wallet, Not Only the Environment

The ongoing environmental disaster at Fukushima is a grim enough reminder of the dangers of nuclear power, but nuclear does not make sense economically, either. The entire industry would not exist without massive government subsidies.

Quite an insult: Subsidies prop up an industry that points a dagger at the heart of the communities where ever it operates. The building of nuclear power plants drastically slowed after the disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, so it is at a minimum reckless that the latest attempt to resuscitate nuclear power pushes forward heedless of Fukushima’s discharge of radioactive materials into the air, soil and ocean.

There are no definitive statistics on the amount of subsidies enjoyed by nuclear power providers — in part because there so many different types of subsidies — but it amounts to a figure, whether we calculate in dollars, euros or pounds, in the hundreds of billions. Quite a result for an industry whose boosters, at its dawn a half-century ago, declared that it would provide energy “too cheap to meter.”

Taxpayers are not finished footing the bill for the industry, however. There is the matter of disposing radioactive waste (often borne by governments rather than energy companies) and fresh subsidies being granted for new nuclear power plants. None of this is unprecedented — government handouts have the been the industry’s rule from its inception. A paper written by Mark Cooper, a senior economic analyst for the Vermont Law School Institute for Energy and the Environment, notes the lack of economic viability then:

“In the late 1950s the vendors of nuclear reactors knew that their technology was untested and that nuclear safety issues had not been resolved, so they made it clear to policymakers in Washington that they would not build reactors if the Federal government did not shield them from the full liability of accidents.” [page iv]

Nor have the economics of nuclear energy become rational today. A Union of Concerned Scientists paper, Nuclear Power: Still Not Viable Without Subsidies, states...

complete article: Nuclear Energy Dangerous to Your Wallet, Not Only the Environment

Common Myths of the Nuclear Industry - Helen Caldicott, MD

Common Myths of the Nuclear Industry - Helen Caldicott, MD

Researchers: No doubt cleanup at Fukushima nuclear plant contaminated rice crops in 2013 - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun

...In 2013, rice crops from areas of Minami-Soma were found with unexpectedly high radioactivity levels more than two years after the triple meltdown at the nuclear plant located 20 kilometers south of the city.

One theory was that highly radioactive substances were dispersed when workers were lifting and removing contaminated rubble at the Fukushima plant on Aug. 19 that year. Two workers at the plant were exposed to high doses of radiation during the cleanup process.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said the cause of the contaminated rice was “unknown” although it acknowledged “the possibility of the dispersal of contaminated dust.” The farm ministry discontinued its investigation without specifying the source of the contamination.

The NRA, however, said the contaminated rice was not related to the cleanup work at the nuclear plant.

The Minami-Soma city assembly expressed outrage over the NRA’s stance. Some in the city suspected the NRA of a cover-up...

complete article: Researchers: No doubt cleanup at Fukushima nuclear plant contaminated rice crops in 2013 - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun

Olsen: Nuclear shouldn't be the future of energy | Journal Times

...New nuclear is prohibitively expensive. They are trying to finish two new reactors at Vogtle in Georgia. It will be at least $18 billion. Here is the real cost data from Vogtle. Vogtle will double or triple the cost ratepayers pay if the plant ever starts up, but since they are already billing ratepayers during construction, they are on the hook, even if it doesn't start up...

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...The $18 billion Vogtle plant could be replaced with solar PV for the cost of around $4 billion. Why have so many been blinded by science, the lure of the sexy science of nuclear, which was founded on lies out of the gate, and is even more so when we see the massive costs necessary to make new nuclear even "pretty safe?"

complete: Olsen: Nuclear shouldn't be the future of energy

Nuclear no match for renewables | Opinion & Analysis | BDlive

SA has an immediate crisis in supplying reliable electricity. The government’s curiously oblique solution: eight new nuclear reactors, costing about R1-trillion. The inherent complexity of procurement, financing and construction means no new nuclear power could flow for at least a decade, and then only at prices well above those many customers cannot afford today.

The country’s past two flirtations with modern nuclear power have not gone well. Plans for a home-grown "pebble bed" modular reactor were abandoned in 2010 after 12 years and R7bn was wasted. Now rarely mentioned, it found no customers or investors, but its advocates’ influence lives on. In 2008, the government rejected as "unaffordable" bids to build 3.2GW of conventional nuclear reactors.

Today, its ambition is three times bigger — 9.6GW — and each gigawatt will cost about three times more because real costs rose while the rand lost half its value. So, the total price tag has increased about nine-fold since 2008, while SA’s per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) has not risen a bit. With the national debt approaching junk-bond status, nuclear "affordability" has hardly improved...

more: Nuclear no match for renewables | Opinion & Analysis | BDlive